Virginia is home to facilities for many
food industry heavy hitters, including Coca-Cola, Lipton and Kraft Foods. It’s also the
location of the world’s largest hummus
factory.

Hummus seems so common now that
it’s hard to imagine how just a decade
ago it was still an exotic food for most
Americans. Since then, the rise of hummus
has been staggering, and there’s no
company more responsible for making it
mainstream than Sabra Dipping Company.

Sabra opened in 1986 as a small food
manufacturer in Queens, New York. But
as sales picked up, the company outgrew
the space and settled on Colonial Heights,
Virginia as its new headquarters.

The main thread in the story of Sabra
is the company’s uncanny success with
marketing.

Convincing Americans that they shouldditch ketchup or ranch for a dip that’sconsidered peasant food in the MiddleEast was no small feat. But with cleveradvertising and persistence, Sabra hashelped transform the snacks and dipsindustry.

Sabra is the best-selling hummus in
the country and has been credited with
introducing more Americans to hummus
than any other brand. Hummus now holds
more than 60 percent of the refrigerated
dips category and is found in an estimated
25 percent of American homes.

The increase in sales has also impacted
chickpea farmers in a big way. All told,
American chickpea farmers have reportedly
quadrupled their output from 25 million
pounds in 2009 to 100 million pounds in
2015.

But there have been a few bumps in the
road. In fact, our tour happened to arrive
at the plant as the company was grappling
with any food processor’s worst nightmare:
a far-reaching product recall.

The move was prompted by a positive
listeria test in the facility. Although listeria
wasn’t detected in any finished product,
Sabra chose to recall a large amount of
its product line out of an abundance of
caution.

Rather than shying from the topic, therecall was addressed right away by IlyaWelfeld, a public relations representativefor Sabra, who displayed an “onward andupward” mentality toward the problem.

In light of the event, Welfeld said the
company would be ramping up its safety
measures even more with additional
auditing, increased transparency and
testing. These changes will add to the
company’s already robust safety protocol.

It wasn’t all bad for Sabra. In the
midst of the experience, Welfeld said that
the company received several letters of
support from frequent customers who
explained how much their products matter
in their daily life.

That approach to hummus fits right into
Sabra’s quest to pitch the dip not just as
food, but as an experience.

Sabra is now expanding its reach deeper
into everyone’s kitchen with a widening
portfolio of products such as squeezable
spreads for sandwiches and wraps, party
platters, veggie-fusion dips and even more
flavors of hummus.

While it has climbed the mountain and
made hummus mainstream, Sabra is just
getting started.